Archbishops of Canterbury Archbishops of Canterbury By Ben Johnson | Comments In the Christian church, an archbishop is a bishop of superior rank who has authority over other bishops in an ecclesiastic province or area. The Church of England is presided over by two archbishops: the archbishop of Canterbury, who is 'primate of All England', and the archbishop of York, who is 'primate of England'. In the time of St. Augustine, around the 5th century it was intended that England would be divided into two provinces with two archbishops, one at London and one at York . Canterbury gained supremacy just prior to the Reformation in the 16th century, when it exercised the powers of papal legate throughout England. It is the Archbishop of Canterbury who has the privilege of crowning the kings and queens of England and ranks immediately after the princes of royal blood. The Archbishop's official residence is at Lambeth Palace, London, and second residence at the Old Palace, Canterbury. The first Archbishop of Canterbury was Augustine. Originally prior to the Benedictine monastery of St. Andrew in Rome, he was sent to England by Pope Gregory I with the mission to convert the natives to Roman Christianity.

Landing in Ebbesfleet, Kent in 597 Augustine quickly converted his first native when he baptized Ethelbert, King of Kent along with many of his subjects. He was consecrated Bishop of the English at Arles that same year and appointed archbishop in 601, establishing his seat at Canterbury. In 603 he attempted unsuccessfully to unite the Roman and native Celtic churches at a conference on the Severn. The following list traces the Archbishops from the time of Augustine through the Reformation, up to the present day. Their influence on the history of England and the English people is apparent for all to see. Archbishops of Canterbury 604 Laurentius. Nominated by St. Augustine as his successor. Had a rocky ride when King Ethelbert of Kent was succeeded by his pagan son Eadbald. Remaining calm Laurentius eventually converted Eadbald to Christianity, thus preserving the Roman mission in England. 627 Honorius. The last of the group of Roman missionaries who had accompanied St. Augustine to England. 668 Theodore (of Tarsus).

The Greek theologian was already in his sixties when he was sent to England by Pope Vitalian to assume the role of archbishop. Despite his age he went on to reorganise the English Church creating the diocesan structure, uniting for the first time the people of England. 693 Berhtwald. The first archbishop of English birth. Worked with King Wihtred of Kent to develop the laws of the land. Cuthbert. Established England as an important base from which Anglo-Saxon missionaries were despatched abroad. 765 Jaenberht. Backed the wrong horse in the King of Kent against King Offa of Mercia. He saw the importance of Canterbury reduce as power shifted to Offa's cathedral in Lichfield. 793 Ethelheard, St. Originally chosen by King Offa of Mercia, to make Lichfield into the premier archbishopric in England. Ethelheard appears to have messed things up a little in the politics of the day, and unwittingly succeeded in reinstating Canterbury's traditional superiority. 805 Wulfred.

As with his predecessors Wulfred's rule was frequently disrupted by disputes with the kings of Mercia and was at one stage exiled by King Cenwulf. 833 Ceolnoth. Maintained Canterbury's superiority within the Church of England by forming close relationships with the rising power of the Kings of Wessex, and abandoning the pro-Mercian policies of Feologeld. 890 Plegmund. Appointed Archbishop by Alfred the Great. Plegmund played an influential role in the reigns of both Alfred and Edward the Elder. He was involved in early efforts to convert the Danelaw to Christianity. 942 Oda. Oda's career serves to demonstrate the integration of Scandinavians into English society. The son of a pagan who came to England with the Viking 'Great Army', Oda organised the reintroduction of a bishopric into the Scandinavian settlements of East Anglia. 960 Dunstan. He was originally Abbot of Glastonbury from 945, and made it a centre of learning. He was King Edred's chief advisor and virtually became the kingdom's ruler.

Following the death of Edred in 955, his nephew King Edwy drove Dunstan into exile for refusing to authorize his proposed marriage with Ælfgifu. After Edwy's death in 959, Dunstan became Archbishop of Canterbury from 960. He is said to have pulled the devil's nose with a pair of tongs. His feast day is 19th May. 990 Sigeric. In the reign of Ethelred II the Unready, Sigeric was promoted from humble monk to the top job of archbishop. He is associated with the policy of paying Danegeld in an attempt to buy off Scandanavian attacks. 1005 Alphege. In 1012, he was captured by the Danes who had invaded Kent, and was held at Greenwich. He refused to pay his own ransom, and, during a drunken feast at which the Danes threw left-over bones and skulls at Alphege, he was murdered by a Dane whom he had converted to Christianity earlier in the day., The Danish leader, Thorkill, was disgusted by the murder and changed sides, bringing 45 ships to Æthelred 's service.

In 1033, Canute moved Alphege's bones from St Paul's Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral. 1020 Ethelnoth. One of the most distinguished of the Anglo-Saxon archbishops. The first monk of the Canterbury monastery to be elected archbishop. 1051 Robert of Jumieges. One of a small number of Normans who came to England with Edward the Confessor in 1041. His scheming and elevation to archbishop fuelled a civil war between Edward and Earl Godwine of Wessex. Robert was also the ambassador who promised the succession to Duke William (The Conqueror) of Normandy. 1052 Stigand. Became archbishop after the expulsion of Robert of Jumieges, as such he was never recognised by the church in Rome. A worldly and very wealthy man he was at first accepted by William I The Conqueror, but in 1070 was deposed by Papal Legate. 1070 Lanfranc. A native of Italy, he left home around 1030 to pursue his studies in France.

He was responsible for presenting the case to the Pope for William of Normandy's claim to the English crown. It was William I The Conqueror who appointed him archbishop in 1070. Lanfranc was responsible for reforming and reorganising the English Church and rebuilt the Cathedral on the model of St Stephen's in Caen where he had previously been Abbot. 1093 Anselm. Another Italian who had left home in search of better things and had found Lefranc as Prior at the Norman Abbey of Bec. He followed in Lefranc's footsteps first as Prior and then as Archbishop. His strongly held views on the Church-State relationship would greatly influence Thomas a Becket and continue to rumble on for centuries ensuring a greater control of the Church from Rome. 1139 Theobald. Yet another monk from the Norman Abbey of Bec. He was created Archbishop by Stephen. The relationship between the King and Archbishop strained over the years culminating in Theobald refusing to crown Stephen's son Eustace. He drew Thomas a Becket into his service Thomas a Becket .

Worked as a banker's clerk before entering the service of Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury in 1145. He was a close friend of Henry II and was Chancellor from 1152 until 1162, when he was elected archbishop. He then changed his allegiance to the church, alienating Henry. In 1164, he opposed Henry's attempt to control the relations between church and state – preferring the clergy to be judged by the church and not by the state – and fled to France. There was a reconciliation between Henry and Becket and he returned in 1170, but the reconciliation soon broke down. After an outburst from the king, four knights – probably misunderstanding Henry's instructions – murdered Becket in front of the altar of Canterbury Cathedral on 29th December 1170. He was canonised – as St Thomas Becket – in 1172, and his shrine became the most popular destination of pilgrimage in England until the Reformation. His feast day is 29th December. 1184 Baldwin.

Despite being described as gentle and guileless, he did take action when needed, galloping up and saving Gilbert of Plumpton from the gallows, forbidding such hangman's work on a Sunday. Also saw action in the Crusades, he died five weeks after his 200 knights had fought at Acre. 1193 Hubert Walter. Rector of Halifax in 1185. He travelled to the Holy Land with Richard the Lion-Heart on the Third Crusade 1190 and, when Richard was taken prisoner by emperor Henry VI, Walter brought the army back to England and raised a ransom of 100,000 marks for the king's release. He was Dean of York from 1186 to 1189, then Bishop of Salisbury, and he became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1193. On Richard's death in 1199, he was appointed Chancellor 1207 Stephen Langton. He was consecrated archbishop by Pope Innocent III, which annoyed King John so much that he refused to admit him into England. The quarrel between King and Pope lasted until John submitted in 1213.

Once in England he proved to be an important mediator playing a key role in negotiating Magna Carta . 1375 Simon Sudbury. He was blamed for government mismanagement and unjust taxation which led to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, led by Wat Tyler . The 'revolting' rebels dragged him from the Tower of London and beheaded him. His mummified head is displayed in the vestry of St. Gregory's church in Sudbury, Suffolk. 1381 William Courtenay. He led the opposition within the English Church to John Wyclif, dubbed by some to be 'the morning star of the Reformation', and the Lollards, and was influential in driving them out of Oxford. 1396 Thomas Arundel. The combination of his high aristocratic birth and driving ambition made him one of the most powerful men in England. His political connections led first to his banishment by Richard II in 1397, and then to his restoration by Henry IV two years later. 1414 Henry Chichele. He helped to finance the war against France, organised the fight against Lollardy and founded All Souls College in Oxford.

1443 John Stafford. It was said of him if he had done little good he had done no harm. 1452 John Kempe. Initially Henry V's Keeper of the Privy Seal and Chancellor in Normandy, he also served two terms as Chancellor of England. Before becoming Archbishop of Canterbury he was Bishop of; Rochester (1419-21), Chichester (1421), London (1421-5) and York (1425-52). 1454 Thomas Bourchier. Also served as Chancellor of England from 1455 to 1456, during an illness of Henry VI and while Richard of York was Protector. 1486 John Morton. Originally an Oxford-trained lawyer he fled to Flanders, to the court of Henry Tudor, after Richard III attempted to imprison him in 1483. Henry VII summoned him home after his victory at Bosworth in 1485 and made him archbishop.

After this he applied much of his energy to financial matters of state giving his name to the 'Morton's fork' principle of tax assessment: ostentation is proof of wealth - stricken appearance is proof of hidden savings. 1503 William Warham. He expressed doubts as to the wisdom of Henry VIII marrying Catherine of Aragon, the widow of Prince Arthur, but presided at their coronation. He did nothing to help Catherine against Henry's efforts to have their marriage declared null, but was less than happy with the increasingly anti-papal royal policy adopted after 1530. The martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer, from an old edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs Archbishops of Canterbury since the Reformation 1533 Thomas Cranmer. Compiled the first English Book of Common Prayer. First Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1551, his 42 Articles laid down the basis of Anglican Protestantism. Burned at the stake for heresy and treason in opposing Bloody Mary. His feast day is 16th October. 1556 Reginald Pole. Returned from a self imposed exile in Italy following the accession of his Catholic cousin Queen Mary I.

He died within a few hours of her in November 1558. 1559 Mathew Parker. He was apparently surprised when Elizabeth I decided that her mother's (Anne Boleyn) old chaplain would make an ideal Archbishop of Canterbury. Presided over the very difficult opening years of the new religious settlement. 1576 Edmund Grindal. He had been exiled under Queen Mary I because of his Protestant beliefs and was therefore the obvious choice for the top job in the Church of Elizabeth I. His defiance of her wishes in 1577 however, led to his suspension under house arrest. He failed to recovered favour by the time of his death. 1583 John Whitgift. A former Cambridge don, he first attracted the attention of Elizabeth I by his strict disciplining of the non-conforming Puritans. Yet another archbishop who annoyed the lady, with the thought that a clergyman should attempt to decide theology for her Church. 1604 Richard Bancroft. Was born and intially educated in Farnworth, near modern day Widnes, he graduated from Cambridge and was ordained around 1570.

Whilst still Bishop of London, he drafted the rules for the translation of what would eventually become the 'most popular book in the world' ... The King James Bible . 1611 George Abbot. He found favour under James I, his reputation as a churchman however was dented when he accidentally killed a gamekeeper whilst out hunting with a crossbow. 1633 William Laud. His High Church policy, support for Charles I, censorship of the press, and persecution of the Puritans aroused bitter opposition. He was responsible for moving the altar from a its central position to the east end of churches. His attempt to impose the Prayer Book in Scotland precipitated the Civil War. He was impeached by the Long Parliament in 1640, imprisoned in the Tower of London, condemned to death, and beheaded. 1660 William Juxon. A friend of William Laud, he had attended Charles I at his execution in 1649 and spent the years until the restoration of Charles II in retirement. His appointment as archbishop in 1660 being a reward for loyal royal service. 1663 Gilbert Sheldon.

Another former advisor to Charles I, he attempted to unite the thinking of the Anglican and Presbyterian branches of the Church. 1678 William Sancroft. Following an unsuccessful attempt to convert King James II to Anglicanism, he and the king fell out. He openly and publicly defied royal orders to accept the King's Declaration of Indulgence for Dissenters and Catholics. A man of integrity it appears, as he played no part in Glorious Revolution and argued that the oath he had taken to James precluded him taking another to William III and Mary II. 1691 John Tillotson. He succeeded Sancroft as archbishop, having carried out the duties of the office since 1689 when Sancroft had refused to take the oaths that recognised William and Mary as rightful monarchs. William of Orange 1695 Thomas Tenison. A 'friend' of those who invited William of Orange to England in 1688. He warned about the threat to Anglicanism from a Stuart restoration. 1716 William Wake. He attempted to persuade the French Gallican Church to break with Rome and ally itself with the Church of England.

In later life he gained a reputation for corruption, appointing members of his family to financially lucrative positions within the Church. Frederick Temple. Followed the well worn path from Oxford to Rugby to Canterbury. 1903 Randall Thomas Davidson. Born in Edinburgh into a Presbyterian family, he studied at Oxford, and became chaplain to Archbishop Tait (his father-in-law) and also to Queen Victoria . 1928 Cosmo Gordon Lang. Born in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, he was Principal of Aberdeen University and entered the Church of England in 1890. He was both counsellor and friend to the royal family. 1942 William Temple. The son of Frederick Temple he deviated the well worn path from Oxford to Canterbury via Repton. He was an outspoken supporter of social reform in crusades against money lenders, slums and dishonesty. 1945 Geoffrey Francis Fisher. He also followed the now deeply rutted path from Oxford to Repton to Canterbury. As archbishop he crowned Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey in 1953. 1961 Arthur Michael Ramsey.

Educated at Repton, where his headmaster was the man he would succeed as archbishop - Geoffrey Fisher, he worked for Church unity with an historic visit to the Vatican in 1966. He also attempted to forge a reconciliation with the Methodist Church. BBC ON THIS DAY | 2 | 1953: Queen Elizabeth takes coronation oath 1953: Queen Elizabeth takes coronation oath Queen Elizabeth II has been crowned at a coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey in London. In front of more than 8,000 guests, including prime ministers and heads of state from around the Commonwealth, she took the Coronation Oath and is now bound to serve her people and to maintain the laws of God. After being handed the four symbols of authority - the orb, the sceptre, the rod of mercy and the royal ring of sapphire and rubies - the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher, placed St Edward's Crown on her head to complete the ceremony. A shout of "God Save the Queen" was heard and gun salutes were fired as crowds cheered. The Archbishop and fellow bishops then paid homage to Queen Elizabeth II.

In a radio broadcast the Queen said: "Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust". An estimated three million people lined the streets of London to catch a glimpse of the new monarch as she made her way to and from Buckingham Palace in the golden state coach. The ceremony was watched by millions more around the world as the BBC set up their biggest ever outside broadcast to provide live coverage of the event on radio and television. Street parties were held throughout the UK as people crowded round television sets to watch the ceremony. Fireworks The crowds, some of whom had camped out overnight to ensure a prime position, were rewarded when the Queen and other members of her family, including the Queen Mother, appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. Despite the overcast weather conditions the RAF marked the occasion with a fly past down the Mall. A fireworks display then lit up the skies above Victoria Embankment. The Queen replaced her father, King George VI, as monarch following his death on 6 February 1952. After 16 years on the throne he passed away in his sleep and his 25-year-old daughter Elizabeth immediately became Queen.

The princess formally proclaimed herself Queen and Head of the Commonwealth and Defender of the Faith in February 1952 but the amount of planning and a wish for a sunny day for the occasion led to the long but excited wait for this day. In Context Over 20 million people watched the BBC coverage of the coronation. Many people crowded round neighbours' sets to watch television for the first time. The broadcast was made in 44 languages. <br> There was a shortage of professional coachmen to help transport dignitaries to Westminster Abbey in horse drawn carriages. Millionaire businessmen and country squires offered their services and on the day they dressed up as Buckingham Palace servants and helped take people to the ceremony. <br> Many commemorative souvenirs were produced to mark the occasion including a special set of four postage stamps. <br> In 2002 the Queen celebrated her Golden Jubilee. She marked her 50 years on the throne with a mammoth tour of the Commonwealth and UK where millions turned out to celebrate during the Jubilee weekend.

<br> The highlight of the weekend was the 'Party at the Palace' where stars from Ozzy Osbourne and Sir Paul McCartney to S Club 7 and Blue joined forces to entertain the crowds at Buckingham Palace. <br> Queen's Coronation anniversary: A medieval rite for the modern world - Telegraph Queen Elizabeth II Queen's Coronation anniversary: A medieval rite for the modern world Many Britons were seeing television for the first time when they watched the Coronation on June 2, 1953. What their tiny sets gave them was a glimpse of a spectacular ritual that had barely changed in 900 years – the grandest ceremonial occasion the nation can stage, writes Harry Mount . The 1953 Coronation provided the Queen with a formal initiation rite and an investiture with her official regalia Photo: AFP By Harry Mount 7:00AM BST 02 Jun 2013 There’s nothing new about austerity. At the Coronation on June 2, 1953, there was a careful balancing act between regal spectacle and careful spending – sugar and meat rationing was still in force, eight years after the War had ended.

The 2,964 square yards of gold and blue Glaswegian carpet laid along Westminster Abbey’s medieval floor were later sliced into pieces to fit Anglican churches across the world. The timber boards used for the platforms for the 8,251 spectators in the abbey were sliced to lengths that could be recycled for the building trade. Still, there was room for enough majesty to suit the most important ceremonial occasion in the British historical calendar. You don’t actually need a coronation to become a monarch – the Queen succeeded to the throne the moment her father died, 16 months before the Coronation, in February 1952; Edward V and Lady Jane Grey were deposed before they were crowned, and Edward VIII abdicated before his coronation. But it was the 1953 Coronation, planned by the Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, that provided the Queen with a formal initiation rite and an investiture with her official regalia. It was a public display, too, of the Queen’s spiritual and constitutional role, stamping her place in a 900-year-long chain of coronations in Westminster Abbey.

She was the 39th sovereign to be crowned at the abbey; the first was William the Conqueror, whose coronation took place on Christmas Day, 1066. Related Articles Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II 02 Jun 2013 The service and regalia have only changed a little over the years. Last month, it emerged that there will be a multifaith presence at Prince Charles’s coronation. Even the Queen, who saw little need to change the pattern of the ceremonies held by her father and grandfather, donned a new stole and armills – the gold bracelets of sincerity and wisdom. But, unlike so many state ceremonies that were cobbled together in the 19th century, the coronation has remained remarkably consistent since King Edgar was crowned in Bath in 973. The abbey stage for the Queen’s coronation was modelled on that used in Queen Elizabeth I’s; officials consulted the abbey’s Liber Regalis (“Royal Book”), with its 14th-century order of service, to give the 1953 ceremony an authentic medieval flavour.

At 11.15am, the Queen processed from the west door of the abbey, along the nave and choir, to the theatre that had been built at the east end. In her 250-strong procession, there were church leaders, Commonwealth prime ministers, members of the Royal Household, civil and military leaders and the Yeomen of the Guard. As she walked, verses from Psalm 122 – “I was glad when they said unto me: We will go into the house of the Lord” – were sung, to Sir Hubert Parry’s setting. The Queen knelt on the south side of the altar to say some short private prayers, before a unique religious service took place. To begin with, there was the so-called Recognition: the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, presented the Sovereign to the congregation, with the words, “Sirs, I here present unto you Queen Elizabeth, your undoubted queen: wherefore all you who are come this day to do your homage and service, are you willing to do the same?” “God save Queen Elizabeth,” the congregation roared back.

The Queen then took the coronation oath, swearing to govern faithfully with justice and mercy, to uphold the Gospel, and to maintain the doctrine and worship of the Church of England. Sixty years ago, a new ritual was introduced: the the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland presented the Queen with a Bible, “To keep your Majesty ever mindful of the law and gospel of God as the rule for the whole life and government of Christian princes.” Next came the Communion service; after the Creed, the Queen’s crimson robe was removed, before she sat in the Coronation Chair, built by Edward I, Hammer of the Scots, to hold the Stone of Scone, taken from Scotland in 1296. The Queen was now prepared for the religious and constitutional peak of the ceremony, the anointment, when she was consecrated as sovereign. The ritual was hidden from view, by a canopy held over the the Queen by four Knights of the Garter. Behind the canopy, the Archbishop anointed the Queen with holy oil on her hands, breast and head. The oil was made from a secret mixture of ambergris, civet, orange flowers, roses, jasmin, cinnamon and musk.

In a poignant detail, the phial with the anointing oil had been destroyed in a bombing raid on the Deanery in May 1941. The chemist who had mixed the last anointing oil had gone bust – a new company, Savory and Moore Ltd, was asked by the Surgeon-Apothecary to come up with a new supply for the Coronation. It was during the anointment that the Crown Jewels really came into play. The holy oil was poured from Charles II’s Ampulla, an eagle-shaped vessel, into a 12th-century spoon. Meanwhile, the choir sang “Zadok the Priest” – the words, from the first Book of Kings, have been sung at every coronation since King Edgar’s in 973. The anointment ritual is even older, going back to King Solomon himself, supposedly anointed by Zadok in the 10th century BC. Once anointed, the Queen was dressed in a supertunica, or long gown, and a mantle. Beneath all this, she wore a white satin dress designed by Norman Hartnell, decorated with the emblems of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Thousands of tiny seed pearls, set in silver saucers, covered the surface of the cloth. Complementary dresses were designed for the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, the Duchess of Kent, Princess Alexandra and the Queen’s six Maids of Honour. Then the Queen was invested with her regalia. She was first given a pair of gold spurs (originally used for creating knights, when they literally earned their spurs), commissioned for the 1661 coronation of Charles II. Most of the Crown Jewels were made then, after the medieval regalia were melted down in 1649 by the Commonwealth government. The Queen was then given the sword of justice, along with her new stole and armills, followed by the Sovereign’s Orb. Representing Christ’s authority over the globe, the spherical gold orb, circled by 365 rose-cut diamonds, was also made for Charles II’s coronation. Once she had been equipped with a glove and the Sovereign’s Ring, designed for William IV in 1831, the Queen then took up a sceptre with a cross – symbolising kingly power – and a rod, topped with a dove, symbolising justice and mercy.

And then came the archetypal crowning moment, as the Archbishop placed St Edward’s Crown – a 1661 imitation of its medieval predecessor – on the Queen’s head, to trumpet fanfares and cries of “God Save the Queen” from the congregation. Several miles downstream, at the Tower of London, a gun salute was fired. Once the benediction was over, the Queen moved from the Coronation Chair to the throne in the central part of the theatre. The enthronement was the moment at which she officially took possession of her kingdom, before receiving homage, first from the Archbishop of Canterbury, then the Lords Spiritual (the bishops), the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Lords Temporal – that is, other peers from the House of Lords. It is here that there will be a crucial change at the next two coronations: male consorts, such as the Duke of Edinburgh, are not anointed and crowned; queen consorts are.

The service ended with the Queen receiving Holy Communion, before moving to St Edward’s Chapel, where she put on a purple velvet robe and swapped St Edward’s Crown for the Imperial State Crown, designed in 1937 for George VI, and shortened in 1953 for the 5 foot 4 inch Queen. And then she processed back along the nave to the western annexe, decked with flowers by celebrity florist Constance Spry, who flew in exotic blooms from Commonwealth countries, including a rare Malay orchid. As the National Anthem played, the Queen walked through the abbey, sceptre and orb in her hands, past her subjects in what you might call declining order of precedence. The peeresses, MPs, admirals, generals, privy councillors and Coronation organisers were in the best seats in the transepts. The colonial rulers, leaders of foreign states, the Commonwealth premiers and senior services sat in the choir, along with the masters and scholars of Westminster School. Then came the distinguished members of the public, in the cheap seats near the west door. Up in the triforium, the medieval gallery above the nave, sat the gentlemen of the press.

Particularly small cameramen were chosen to film from a cramped eyrie above the organ loft. Among the journalists was one Jacqueline Bouvier, later Jackie Kennedy, then working for the Washington Times-Herald. By 2pm, almost three hours after it began, the service was over, watched by 27 million people in the first ever coronation to be televised.

Coronations had entered the modern age – although anyone watching the ancient, hallowed ritual could only have agreed with the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, who said of the ceremony, “Let it not be thought that the age of chivalry belongs to the past.” Harry Mount is the author of 'How England Made the English’ (Viking) Don't miss The Telegraph's eight-page souvenir supplement, free with Monday's newspaper Why Elizabeth II's 1953 Coronation is the day that changed television | Radio Times Why Elizabeth II's 1953 Coronation is the day that changed television When the cameras entered Westminster Abbey Britain would never be the same again, says historian Joe Moran Comments Joe Moran 7:23 AM, 02 June 2013 In the early history of TV, there is a single day’s television that will always be imprinted on popular memory: the Queen’s coronation, televised 60 years ago this week. Most 60-somethings will have a dim memory of being plonked down with other children in front of a neighbour’s brand-new television set – with its tiny, bulbous screen – and hearing the cry “Vivat Regina” again and again.

But those millions of living-room television parties nearly didn’t happen at all. In 1952, a Coronation Commission, chaired by Prince Philip, had ruled that the Westminster Abbey ceremony would not be televised, the sole concession being to allow cameras west of the organ screen so that the processions could be seen. This phrase, “west of the organ screen”, was repeated ad infinitum over the course of that year, and came to symbolise the anachronism of a prewar caste system that offered a privileged view to the favoured few. “Beyond the precincts of Westminster, from the shores of Cornwall to the grey waters of the Clyde, from the warm sunlight of the Weald of Kent to the green-blue loveliness of the Lakes,” wrote the Daily Mirror’s Cassandra, “at least fifteen million of Her Majesty’s subjects will be abruptly shuttered off by what appears to be a monumental piece of misjudgement.” For others, the organ screen defended precious tradition from the pernicious instincts of mass voyeurism.

In this camp was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, who told reporters in 1952, “The world would have been a happier place if television had never been discovered.” The secret reason for the Commission’s decision was the Queen’s reluctance to be televised. There were no cameras in the Abbey at her wedding in 1947, she refused to let her Christmas broadcast be filmed and had asked the BBC not to let cameras settle on her face during Trooping the Colour. A number of grey eminences, notably Lord Swinton, a veteran in Winston Churchill’s cabinet, succeeded in changing her mind. In October, the Commission decided that cameras would be allowed beyond the screen, as long as there were “no close-ups”. The news that the coronation would be fully televised increased the pressure to make television truly national, for at this time many on the country’s fringes and coastlines couldn’t receive it. In 1951, worried about a resurgent Germany and the onset of the Cold War, the government had diverted money into rearmament and postponed the building of more TV transmitters.

In the North East, miners’ lodges passed resolutions against the region’s continuing televisual deprivation, and Whitley Bay council lobbied the government on behalf of the three million people cut off from the Holme Moss transmitter’s signal by the Pennines. But in October 1952, the same month that the Coronation Commission reversed its decision, the Postmaster General announced that transmitters at Pontop Pike, a moorland peak in County Durham, and Glencairn, in the Belfast hills overlooking that city, would be built after all, so that people in these areas could see the coronation. Opening on the same day – 1 May, 1953 – these one-kilowatt masts were makeshift, austerity affairs housed in old prewar outside-broadcast vans. On each hilltop, a skeleton staff of eight engineers lived in a rudimentary wooden hut, with an Elsan chemical toilet. The Belfast signal had to be routed through the Kirk o’ Shotts transmitter in central Scotland, across 70 miles of Scottish hills and 30 miles of sea; by the time it was scattered over the rooftops of the province to about 900 TV aerials, the results were mixed.

Belfast and the flat country surrounding the city got a passable reception, but beyond it there were only fading pictures and the sound arriving in whispers. In this poorest part of the kingdom there was little clamour for television anyway, but Ulster Unionists welcomed it as a sign that Northern Ireland was fully part of the UK; Irish Nationalists, on the other hand, were deeply suspicious of both the coronation and the anglicising influence of BBC television. In the days leading up to the coronation, viewers adjusted their sets while picking up the build-up programmes. On About the Home, the television chef Marguerite Patten told them how to prepare melon cocktails and salmon mousse to eat in front of the television. Two Metropolitan Police officers gave advice to viewers on preventing house burglaries on the big day, and on how to behave along the coronation route. On Tuesday 2 June, BBC television opened earlier than ever, at 9.15am, with the test card, to allow people to tweak their aerials. A million and a half people were gathering in places such as town-hall ballrooms, hospitals and churches, which had been granted a collective licence to watch television.

In London’s Royal Festival Hall, 3,000 holders of tickets, which had sold out within 54 minutes of going on sale in April, arrived at 10am and collected a packed lunch. The same number filled the Odeon in Leicester Square. Butlin’s holiday campers in resorts like Filey, Skegness and Clacton watched on big screens. Around 20.4 million people watched at least half an hour of the service, nearly double the radio audience, with almost as many watching the processions. Since there were only 2.7 million television sets, that meant an average of seven and a half people to a set, excluding children, who were not counted in the statistics. Some, though, remained unimpressed. A student who tried to avoid the coronation by cycling through Sussex country lanes kept being reminded of it by bursts of noise coming from houses with television aerials and the curtains drawn.

Joan Bakewell didn’t bother to watch with her fellow students on a TV set newly acquired by Newnham College, Cambridge, and she noted later that she had made no reference to the coronation in her diary for that day: “So much for all that fanciful talk about new Elizabethans.” At 5.20pm, after the Queen’s last appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony, 26 per cent of the adult population carried on watching the children’s programmes and about the same number watched for the rest of the evening. At 11.30pm, Richard Dimbleby delivered an unannounced, impromptu sermon, summing up the day from an empty, silent Westminster Abbey: “An epilogue sublime, touching and human as had been the great day itself,” according to The Television Annual for 1954. In our national folk memory, the coronation is usually seen as the moment when television was instantly transformed from a primitive, minority activity into a sophisticated mass medium. Last year, I even heard Chris Evans on The One Show suggesting to an interviewee that “the Queen saved television” – that without her coronation, the medium would never have taken off.

But this idea of the coronation as a watershed for TV is unconvincing. By 1953, television in Britain was nearly 30 years old, had accumulated thousands of broadcasting hours and been seen by millions. The number of new licences rose from 400,000 in 1950 to 700,000 in 1951 and 1952 and 1,100,000 in 1953, suggesting that the sales hike for the coronation was part of a steady, inexorable rise, not something sparked by one event. The coronation gave television a helpful nudge, that is all. People who rented sets just for the coronation usually held on to them, and the normal summer slump in television sales failed to materialise. And this post-coronation television boom coincided happily with the end of rationing.

The easing of restrictions on hire purchase in July 1954 was probably more important than the coronation in turning television into a mass medium, for people could now walk into a shop and buy a £60 TV for £6 down, or sometimes no deposit at all, with the repayments spread for as long as the shopkeeper would allow. For those who could still not afford a set on the “never never”, pubs now had them. A glossy new publication, TV Mirror, featured a 200-year-old inn in south London that advertised “Good Beer and Television Nightly” and photographed a woman wearing field glasses so that she could see the screen more clearly. If it did not have as radical an effect on the nation’s viewing habits as is often supposed, the coronation does seem to have had a profound impact on the monarchy’s attitudes to television. The Queen, newly returned from a tour of the Commonwealth on 15 May 1954, even delayed appearing on the Buckingham Palace balcony until she had finished watching Gracie Fields in the BBC’s Welcome Home Ball.

When ITV arrived in London in September 1955, she and Prince Philip made sure the Buckingham Palace sets would be converted by the time they returned from Balmoral. All the Queen’s residences were exempt from TV licensing laws; by 1960 there were 50 sets in Buckingham Palace alone. By the late 1960s the Queen was reported to be a fan of Dad’s Army, Morecambe and Wise and the wrestling on World of Sport – as was Prince Philip, who especially admired Johnny Kwango’s signature move, the flying head butt. In Richard Cawston’s film Royal Family, broadcast by the BBC and ITV on two separate nights in one of the televisual events of 1969, viewers saw the Queen feeding carrots to her Trooping the Colour horse, announcing “the salad is ready” at a Balmoral barbecue, with Princess Anne on the sausages and Prince Philip on the steaks, and watching television with her family. The royals had inadvertently invented a new genre: the “fly-on-the-wall” documentary. A week after Royal Family, all three channels showed the investiture of the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle.

The coronation had been an event filmed by television, with much agonising over what could be shown; the investiture was a televised event, conceived so that everything could be seen from all angles. Caernarfon residents were given free paint in architect-approved colours – pink, green or cream – to make their house fronts look good on screen. Unlike the coronation, the investiture was watched by most viewers in their own homes, although the few who owned colour sets did invite neighbours to watch on BBC2. The estimate that Caernarfon would have its population swollen to 250,000 proved to be wildly optimistic. Police outnumbered spectators on the processional route and the “crowd-control” barriers restrained only scattered groups of people. Like a party host trying to convince guests that everything was going well, the BBC commentator, Richard Baker, pointed out that “everyone is inside, watching television, where they can get a more comprehensive view of what is going on”. The events of 2 June 1953 may not have turned the nation instantly into a community of viewers, but within half a generation most people were doing what they would do for every major national event afterwards: sitting indoors, in front of the TV.

Archbishops of Canterbury Archbishops of Canterbury Roman Catholic Church Top Surnames From History Magazine - History UK - History of England- Archbishops of Canterbury : in the Christian church, an archbishop is a bishop of superior rank who has authority over other bishops in an ecclesiastic province or area. The Church of England is presided over by two archbishops: the archbishop of Canterbury, who is 'primate of All England', and the archbishop of York, who is 'primate of England'. In the time of St. Augustine, around the 5th century it was intended that England would be divided into two provinces with two archbishops, one at London and one at York. Canterbury gained supremacy just prior to the Reformation in the 16th century, when it exercised the powers of papal legate throughout England. It is the Archbishop of Canterbury who has the privilege of crowning the kings and queens of England and ranks immediately after the princes of royal blood. The Archbishop's official residence is at Lambeth Palace, London, and second residence at the Old Palace, Canterbury. The first Archbishop of Canterbury was Augustine. Originally prior to the Benedictine monastery of St.

Andrew in Rome, he was sent to England by Pope Gregory I with the mission to convert the natives to Roman Christianity. Landing in Ebbesfleet, Kent in 597 Augustine quickly converted his first native when he baptized Ethelbert, King of Kent along with many of his subjects. He was consecrated Bishop of the English at Arles that same year and appointed archbishop in 601, establishing his seat at Canterbury. In 603 he attempted unsuccessfully to unite the Roman and native Celtic churches at a conference on the Severn. The following list traces the Archbishops from the time of Augustine through the Reformation, up to the present day. Their influence on the history of England and the English people is apparent for all to see. List of the Archbishops of Canterbury from Archbishops of Canterbury page by Peter J. Large The year 1997 marks the 1400th anniversary of the landing of Augustine on the shores of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent. Augustine was an Italian Benedictine monk, sent by Saint Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, to convert the English to Christianity.

To mark this anniversary, there appears below a list of Augustine's successors in the See of Canterbury up to and including Rowan Williams, the present Archbishop, Primate of All England and Metropolitan. You can find a similar list on the Archbishop of Canterbury's Home Page , but it does not give the number of succession.

1 Augustine 597-605 36 Ralph de Turbine 1114-1122 37 William de Corbeuil 1123-1136 38 Theobald 1139-1161 46 Edmund Rich (de Abbendon) 1233-1240 47 Boniface of Savoy 1240-1270 48 Robert Kilwardby 1273-1278 52 Simon de Meopham 1327-1333 53 John Stratford 133-1348 54 John de Ufford 1348-1349 55 Thomas Bradwardin 1349 91 John Bird Sumner 1848-1862 92 Charles Thomas Longley 1862-1868 93 Archibald Campbell Tait 1868-1882 94 Edward White Benson 1882-1896 95 Frederick Temple 18

96-1902 97 Cosmo Gordon Lang 1928-1942 98 William Temple 1942-1944 99 Geoffrey Francis Fisher 1945-1961 100 Arthur Michael Ramsey 1961-1974 101 Frederick Donald Coggan 1974-1980 102 Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie 1980-1991 103 George Leonard Carey 1991-2002 104 Rowan Douglas Williams 2002-2012 105 Justin Welby 2013-

Question: Who was the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time of the present queen's coronation?
Answer: Geoffrey Fisher